Opening of Cleft-centre in Timisoara
It was in the Cleft-centre at Timisoara that Dr. Urtila operated the young Gabriela, one of his most difficult cases to date.
In April 2011 it was actually even reported in German papers: little Gabriela, a girl with learning disabilities had a severely disfigured cleft lip and palate. She had spent the first 12 years of her life in a children's home in Bulgaria - alone and isolated. The "Children need peace" organisation who discovered the girl there ultimately found their way to Prof. Sailer in Zurich. "Yes, they got in touch with me and described the case," remembers Prof. Sailer. "On the one hand it was terrible, on the other very important that someone should do something, and so I said: of course, we will do that."
He looked into the options of treating the girl in the Romanian town of Timisoara. The head of our Cleft-centre there, Prof. Emil Urtila, the leading facial surgeon in Romania, said that he would undertake the dangerous operation. "I trusted him completely", says Prof. Sailer, and added that Prof. Urtila had first adopted a cleft-child, his son Florin, and then operated on him. His son is himself an outstanding cleft surgeon today. Prof. Urtila actually was successful and corrected the malformation without complications. Gabriela will not only survive, she will look just like any other girl.
The University of Timisoara awarded Prof. Sailer an honorary doctorate.